Drawing on case study data from an urban school, examines the elementary school classroom as a setting for children's learning of culturally appropriate modes of informal work group behavior. Concludes that schools temper the spontaneity, solidarity, and autonomy that pupils can enjoy in their informal relations with one another. (Author/GC)

This paper reports the first results of a three-year longitudinal study of the social maps of children beginning the transition to adolescence. This exploratory study is guided by Bronfenbrenner's conception of the ecology of human development stressing the importance of a phenomenological orientation to development in the context of ecological…

The feasiblity of an observational rating scale which would provide objective, reliable and quantifiable measures of social and affective behavior was investigated. The Observation of Socialization Behavior (OSB), focusing on peer-group behavior of pre-school children and designed for use in unstructured situations was developed. Two forms of the…